DoD Vision, Investigator- Initiated Research Award | W81XWJ 19 VRP IIRA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWJ 19 VRP IIRA

The Department of Defense Vision Research Program (VRP) Investigator-Initiated Research Award (IIRA), Funding Opportunity Number W81XWJ 19 VRP IIRA, is a discretionary federal funding opportunity run through the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). It was created on May 24, 2019, with an original application deadline of December 6, 2019. Awards under this opportunity are issued as either grants or cooperative agreements, which generally means applicants should be prepared for the possibility of more active federal involvement in the project under a cooperative agreement structure compared with a traditional grant.

The purpose of the FY19 IIRA is to support investigator-driven studies that can lead to high-impact discoveries or major advancements in research and/or patient care for eye injuries and visual dysfunction tied to military-relevant trauma. In practical terms, the program is looking for work that can significantly change what is known, what can be diagnosed, how injuries are treated, how patients recover, or how long-term visual outcomes are improved for individuals affected by trauma relevant to military settings. The emphasis on "military-relevant trauma" signals that proposed research should connect clearly to injuries, exposures, or traumatic events that service members might experience, and the resulting visual impairments or eye damage that follow from those events.

The scope is broad in terms of the kinds of research it will consider. Projects may be basic (mechanistic work, foundational biology, early discovery), translational (bridging lab findings toward practical use), applied (developing or refining tools, technologies, or procedures), clinical (research involving patients but not structured as a clinical trial), or observational (studies that analyze outcomes, risk factors, natural history, or real-world evidence). A key boundary is that clinical trials are explicitly excluded, so proposals need to be designed accordingly; for example, a study can involve human data collection, clinical assessments, imaging, biomarker discovery, or evaluation of care patterns, but it cannot be a trial testing an intervention in the formal clinical trial sense.

A central review expectation is innovation. The program states that the research idea or solution should be innovative or novel, or represent a significant advancement over existing ideas or solutions. That means proposals are expected to go beyond incremental extensions of prior work and instead offer a clear argument for why the approach is new, substantially improved, or capable of producing a step-change in knowledge or clinical impact. Applicants typically need to explain what the current limitations are, how the proposed work addresses those gaps, and why it has a strong chance of delivering meaningful advances for eye injury or visual dysfunction connected to trauma.

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of entity unless further limitations are specified elsewhere in the full announcement. The funding activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and the associated CFDA (now often referenced under Assistance Listings) number is 12.420. The opportunity anticipated about 10 awards. The listed award ceiling is shown as 0, which usually indicates that the ceiling was not provided in this summary field or was defined in the full solicitation rather than as a single fixed cap in the database record.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Vision, Investigator- Initiated Research Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 24, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 06, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWJ 19 VRP IIRA

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